


In These Times

by TheDragonofHouseMormont



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Harry Potter AU, first wizarding war, warnings and characters will be added as they come up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-28
Updated: 2016-02-28
Packaged: 2018-05-23 20:16:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6128815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDragonofHouseMormont/pseuds/TheDragonofHouseMormont
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Despite being a Slytherin, Clara has been best friends with Rose, Amy – both Gryffindors – and Martha – a Ravenclaw – since their first year at Hogwarts.  After years of full moons hiding Rose's dangerous secret, one night, returning from the Shrieking Shack, Clara stumbles upon a strange man hiding on the grounds.  But the year is 1977 and war is looming on the horizon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In These Times

Clara let her face sink into her friend's fur as her energy left her and she felt heavy.  She wanted nothing more than to give in to sleep, but the sun would rise in a few hours and it would be more than a little suspicious if all four of them were missing from their beds instead of just Rose.  Reluctantly leaning away from the other girl's warmth, she hopped onto her feet and croaked, trying to inform the other two that it was time to go.  Amy rolled onto her paws while Martha rose gracefully to hers, and brushing their way Rose, the three of them were out of the house, taking off into the dark forest. 

Her lungs full of the chilly, early autumn air, Clara glanced down at her friends running over tree roots and fallen branches as she flapped her wings above them, the light from the full moon glinting off Amy's red fur while just barely illuminating Martha's much darker hues.  Clara pushed higher, above the treetops and into the moonlight.  Whimsy took hold and she spun through the breeze, curving her path and speeding in large circles over the trees.  It would be a month before she'd get to take flight again and she wanted to have fun in the form she loved. 

A flash of light below her caught her attention and the sound of a man groaning amongst twigs snapping brought her to a halt.  She swooped down, stopping as she reached one of the upper branches, her small bird-heart beating impossibly fast.  Whoever waited below could be a Death Eater come to infiltrate the school for whatever reason – the attacks were making less and less sense to her everyday and she reasoned attacking school children fit right in with their twisted agenda.  But when she looked down the man lying on the ground looked too weak to hurt anyone and nothing like the terrifying men and women who occasionally made the front page upon their capture. 

Gliding down, she landed gently in the soil next to his unconscious body.  She shifted back to human and stared down at him.  "Hello?"  He didn't respond.  She grabbed his shoulder and shook it a little, but still he did nothing.  He was still breathing, that much she could tell, and she felt relieved that she hadn't stumbled upon the scene of some stranger's death.  He was wearing an odd combination of plaid pants and a black jacket with red satin lining, his hair was dark and curly.  "Sir," she said, trying in vain once more to wake him. 

The night felt even colder without her feathers and Clara knew she couldn't just leave him here.  She needed to take him inside, but if she brought him to the hospital wing, she'd have to explain why she was outside after curfew.  She needed to hide him somewhere, but the best hiding place she knew was the Shrieking Shack which was currently occupied by a werewolf.  She'd have to find somewhere else for the time being. 

Stepping around him, she slid her hands underneath his shoulders and pulled him up.  He was heavier than his thinness made him appear to be, and she nearly stumbled as she began dragging him through the woods.  There was a secret passageway into the castle beneath a corner of greenhouse seven, it was the only place close enough where she could get him out of cold and where no one would find him. 

As she pulled him over a particularly large tree root, he groaned once more and she nearly stopped in their trek, but continued to pull him along all the same.  "Where..." he gasped, but didn't manage more than the one word. 

"We're just outside Hogwarts," she told him anyway.  "I'm trying to take you somewhere safe."  He didn't say anything more before she reached the greenhouse.  She laid him on the ground as she tried to find the entrance.  She tapped the cornerstone lightly with her foot and, deciding it was the spot, leaned down and pulled out her wand to tap it with as well.  The cornerstone slid to the right, the stones around it sliding out of the way after it, and in a matter of seconds they revealed a dark stairway leading down and out of sight.  She walked back, retrieving her unexpected guest, and dragged him carefully down the stairs and into the narrow tunnel. 

The entrance closed above them, cutting them off from the moonlight.  "Lumos," she whispered to save them from the darkness that had swallowed them.  She kneeled down beside him, wiping some of the dirt off his face.  "Are you still awake?" 

His eyes blinked open and he looked up at her.  "Where am I?" 

"A secret passageway below the Hogwarts grounds.  I'll take you to the hospital wing in the morning," a fact that she already felt guilty about. 

He shook his head.  Was he rejecting her offer to take him to a doctor?  " _When_ am I?" 

She shook her head at the strange question.  "What?" 

"What year is it?" 

"1977." 

His eyes lit up.  "It _worked._ " 

She was utterly confused now.  "What worked?" 

"Nevermind." 

"Will you be alright down here?"  It wasn't much warmer than outside, but at least there wasn't any wind.  She had to be in class in three hours and really needed sleep.  "I'll come back for you as soon as I can." 

He nodded, his eyes falling closed once more. 

Her feet felt heavy as she walked away, hoping the strange man would survive the night. 

*** 

The moment Charms ended the other members of Clara's house began to make their way back down to the dungeons to enjoy their afternoon.  She only followed them as far as the stairs before slipping away at the ground floor, heading directly for the exit and hoping no one would follow. 

"Hey there!" came Amy's voice as an arm found its way around Clara's shoulders.  "I'm headed up to visit Rose, want to come?" 

Clara wanted nothing more than to visit her friend in the hospital wing, but she felt obligated to check in on the man whose life she risked just to save herself from getting in trouble.  She shook her head.  "I have something I need to take care of outside, but I plan on dropping by this evening before dinner." 

Amy eyed her suspiciously, but thankfully seemed to accept the excuse.  "Alright, I'll see you then." 

Walking quickly out the doors, Clara rushed for the greenhouses, checking constantly to see if anyone was around.  The students were all headed back to the castle and she had the moment to herself.  Opening the passageway, she hopped down the stairs to find the man in the exact same place she'd left him.  "Hello?  Are you still alive?" 

The man chuckled, but his laughter quickly turned into coughing.  "Yes, I've survived so far." 

His accent sounded Scottish; he could be a local that had accidentally found his way to the school.  She hoped he wasn't a muggle, then she'd definitely have to tell the Headmistress that she had potentially exposed magic. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out some water, silently cursing herself for not thinking to bring him some food.  He accepted the water and immediately began to drink.  "Do you think you can walk?" She asked. 

His shoulders struggled to rise and fall in a poor attempt at a shrug.  "I don't know, probably not." 

"What happened?" 

"It's a long story." 

"Mystery or no mystery," she said, her anger flaring a little at the brush-off, "You can't stay here.  Are you still sure you don't want medical help?" 

He nodded.  "The less people that see me, the better." 

"What's that supposed to mean?" 

"Anything I do has the potential to damage history." 

"I have no idea what you mean by that, but there is still one other place I can take you and it's currently unoccupied for the next month."  She reached under his back as she had the night before, but this time, after lifting him to a sitting position, she slid underneath his left arm and tried to pull him to standing.  He managed it, but only just, and leaned heavily into her side, and with him so close to her, she noticed the way he smelled.  With how weak and exhausted he appeared to be, she had expected him to smell sweaty or in some way that seemed like he had exerted a lot of energy.  Instead he smelled like parchment and cinnamon, and something faintly... metallic?  Slowly, the made their way up the steps and into the light of the afternoon. 

They walked through the woods in silence, her hoping no one would notice them and him entirely focused on putting one foot in front of the other.  Soon enough, they made it to the Weeping Willow, but they still had the entirety of the passage to walk through. 

Halfway through the man stumbled and nearly fell.  Clara let him down so he could sit and lean against the passage wall.  "Where are we going?" he asked, breathing heavily. 

"We call it the Shrieking Shack, my friend uses it.  It's safe and isolated - you can hide there." 

One of his eyebrows lifted.  "Why do you think I need to hide?" 

She paused, only just realizing it was an assumption she had made without thinking.  "Only people hiding for some reason would turn down going to the hospital wing when they clearly need help." 

He smiled, but there wasn't any joy in it.  "Good point." 

"Come on," she held a hand out to him.  "It won't be long before someone notices that I've been absent for a while." 

He took her hand, letting her pull him back up, and they continued their slow stagger onward.  As the entrance to the shack came into view, he spoke again.  "I still haven't asked you for your name." 

She opened the door and pulled the two of them inside.  "Clara.  Clara Oswald." 

"Well, Clara Oswald, thank you for rescuing me." 

She led him up the stairs, hoping to find a room that was slightly less torn up than the others.  "And what's your name?" 

"Oh, I don't think I should tell you.  Nothing personal, I just don't want to accidentally change history." 

"Ah yes, of course, because names can change a lot of things," she joked as she found a room that had a bed with its mattress miraculously still intact.  "Names are such dangerous things." 

He sat down on the bed.  "They can be," he told her, completely serious.  "Names are knowledge, and you should never underestimate knowledge." 

As she moved to let go of him, her hand brushed past a chain on his neck.  Without thinking, she pulled it up, revealing an hourglass in a circle.  He snatched it from her hand, hiding it back inside his shirt.  "I've read about those," she whispered.  And suddenly all his strange questions and comments made sense.  "You're a time traveler." 

He nodded.  "Yes," he said tensely.  "But you can't tell anyone.  I shouldn't be here and I'll try to leave as soon as I can." 

"When are you from?" Her curiosity got the better of her. 

"The future," he told her vaguely, like she expected him to be from anywhere else.  As far as she could remember reading, no one had ever travelled forward from the past.  "Aside from that, I can't tell you."  He fell silent for a moment, thinking.  "1977, right?"  She nodded.  "And your name is Clara Oswald?" 

"That's what I said, yes." 

He smiled.  "Good to know." 

**Author's Note:**

> I have two WIPs I should be working on, but this idea came to me yesterday and I couldn't resist.


End file.
